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Anger at Hong Kong chief fuels demands for free vote

Aaron Tam

Standstill … there was a heavy police presence as protesters blocked main thoroughfares in Hong Kong on New Year's day. Photo: AP

HONG KONG: Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Hong Kong calling for the city's embattled leader to quit and demanding greater democracy 15 years after it returned to Chinese rule.

Organisers of two New Year's Day processions against the Beijing-backed chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, claimed a combined turnout of 140,000 people, while the police put the figure at 28,500.

Since taking office in July, Mr Leung's popularity ratings have tumbled. He faced a no-confidence vote in the legislature amid a row over illegal structures at his luxury home - a politically sensitive issue in the city.

Detained ... pro-democracy politician Leung Kwok-hung. Photo: Reuters

''We have to keep voicing our concerns even though the situation is getting worse,'' Billy Li, 27, a university student, said as the demonstrators marched to the government's harbourfront headquarters.

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Holding up posters of Mr Leung as a vampire and a wolf, the protesters, some waving flags from the British colonial era, chanted ''Give us universal suffrage immediately'' and ''Step down, Leung Chun-ying''.

Television news showed a few protesters including the maverick politician ''Long Hair'' Leung Kwok-hung being taken away by police.

Pro-government groups which staged separate and smaller rallies claimed a roll-up of 62,500 people. Police put the figure at 8560.

Supporters of Mr Leung roughed up two local journalists at a rally on Sunday; many Beijing loyalists accuse Hong Kong journalists of being biased in favour of democracy. But the marches on Tuesday were largely peaceful.

Mr Leung secretly expanded his $61 million home without obtaining planning permission or paying real estate fees due on the expansion.

Mr Leung has acknowledged and apologised for the structures but has been widely accused of hypocrisy because he won the election partly by criticising his opponent, Henry Tang, for the unauthorised construction of a huge basement under a villa owned by Mr Tang's wife.

That construction was also done without planning permission, which is difficult to obtain, and without making a payment to the government, which owns virtually all land in Hong Kong and collects hefty lease payments based mainly on the floor area of developments.

Mr Leung even built a false wall to hide his extension.

Many residents blame growing immigration and tourism from mainland China for housing prices at unaffordable levels, overcrowding in schools and difficulties for young people to find jobs.

Demonstrators have used the scandal to press for universal suffrage in choosing the leader of Hong Kong. The territory was returned to Beijing in 1997 but has a semi-autonomous status, with guarantees of civil liberties such as the right to protest which are not found in mainland China.

Mr Leung was elected in March by a committee of 1200 people dominated by pro-Beijing elites, amid rising anger among the city's 7 million inhabitants over what many see as China meddling in local affairs.

Beijing has said the city's chief executive could be directly elected in 2017 at the earliest, with the legislature following by 2020.